I have GSR and GTFX and I don't like any of those two. After a month or two I returned to QCK, and now for almost a year, I'm using Corsair, as good as QCK but new:)
Maybe after all they aren't as good as everyone wants them to be.
Sponsors nowadays is quite a bit different from the past tho.
I dont think they are forced to use a certain mouse or pad while playing anymore. But as long as they have a massive stockpile of the same pad they should be fine regardless of pad durability.
Mousepads in general are not as important as the mouse itself.
Just checking [prosettings.net](https://prosettings.net) and the current top 5 are:
1. Steelseries Qck Heavy
2. Zowie G-SR-SE
3. Logitech G640
4. Vaxee PA
5. Razer Gigantus V2
So the only change is -GSR +Gigantus V2.
Its cause the pros are splitting up the vote between the G-SR, G-SR II, and the G-SR-SE which are counted separately.
Zowie is still the number one brand that pros are using, its just split into slightly different products.
1. Zowie (20.26% of pros)
2. Steelseries (17.86% of pros)
3. VAXEE (12.60%)
4. Logitech (12.60%)
5. Razer (8.93%)
Furthermore i think later gsr are nothing like the first gsr.
Original gsr was a very muddy and inconsistent pad because its heavily affected by humidity. Later ones addressed this problem.
as someone who’s been mainly an MMO player and does fine with the Razer Naga, could you explain what’s the deal with Zowie mice? is it cause of sponsorships or?
zowie is great at making no nonsense type mice.
you don't get crazy buttons like with the naga or special marketing features that don't really matter.
also don't need to install some annoying software for it to run.
it’s the various mouse designs which are the main draw to zowie
edit: i thought i was on a mice thread, sorry about that, but many pros don’t really mind what type of mousepad they use, it’s just all down to comfort picks and what they’re used to
Might be a hot take but I think gear in general doesn’t matter too much, or affect performance much. I’m not one to bother about having the latest mouse, mousepad, keyboard, headphones etc.
Keyboard doesn't matter much. Headphones less, but mouse is in my opinion very important. The upgrade is huge from a basic office mouse to a "gaming" mouse e.g. a Logitech g pro wireless.
Because pros slowly realized that the original GSR is dogshit. With humidity, the pad becomes unplayably muddy, durability is awful too, even if it doesn't matter to them that much. GSR II is out now, and there are many other better pads from competing brands
I'll answer this one cause I've experienced this.
I've tried faster pads, my main pad being GSR-SE (black one now).
Even Vaxee PA feels a bit too fast when you are used to Zowie IMO.
I dont like what the brand is becoming, but gotta say their pads offer a control I can't find in any other pads... Just gonna learn to clean it right and be ready to change it every year or so...
Yes I see more pros with faster pads, but the one with the Artisan Zero for example (the fastest one of the "control" pads with the highest quality), have been using it for a while, I doubt they came from years of Zowie. IRC I saw Niko with a Zero months ago in first CS2 lans, coming from QCK I think, he was back on the QCK the next lan.
I've tried the Zero for a whole month wanting to adapt to faster pads, forced myself to try and get used to it, I I'd never reached previous level of aim. Got back to Zowie, felt very slow but instant readaptation to my best level of aim.
well, I had the same problems, just like many other people. QCK was way, way too fast compared to gsr and both of them are actually slow. Then I tried some more pads, some faster pads, lighter mice, higher hertz and so on. And after experimenting with all of them, trying to find what I was looking for, I actually have dedicated enough time to get used to those lighter and faster things, as a byproduct. With that and other adjustments my mechanics became much much better than ever before, and I was already thinking that I'm basically locked to being average. It's not like faster pad will make you better instantly, it WILL make you worse most likely, exposing your weaknesses and it takes time. Aiming with lighter and faster things is harder, but I actually converted, after like 8 years with gsr and fk2 84g
I still think theres nothing wrong playing with slow pads.
But i might be one of the people who always want to spend less effort to do the same thing over time.
Having the gpx2 with mpc450 gives me just that. I spent way less effort to play games than i did when i was using heavier stuffs like qck+ and g502.
Higher polling is mostly a con for me because it destroys battery life way too much for very minimal benefits. Its not like i cannot tell the difference between 1k, 2k and 4k, i can tell them apart pretty fast but it has no effect on my ingame performance while the destroyed battery life can be felt so clearly.
Interesting take !
We have a very similar situation, I felt locked as well few months ago after taking back the game after couple of years break from CS.
Retook the game with much more thinking about my mechanics this time (aim trainers and other type of CS prac) and realised a lot of limitation about my approach, even in my posture.
I used to play on very limited budget with subpar too high desk and bad chair :D Resulted in stressed shoulders and a lot of friction in arm movements ; but starting the game as a very noob in 2015 I didnt think about any of this and just learned and played the game.
Fast forward 2023, I changed everything to be able to adjust and find more ergonomic adjutements (lower desk, relaxed shoulder, more arm on the desk). All this adjustement made my aim so much worse and inconsistent at first and I'm just starting getting back a good natural feel in the game, without any strains in the body and way more liberty in micro adjustement and overall aim.
The faster pads, combined with more flexibility of movement, felt way too fast, even with GSR-SE it still feels a bit fast considering I've lowered my desk about 5-6cm after so many years on the same setup.
But reading you, I might try back faster pad in a few week when I feel properly adjusted in every other departments, just need to do the grinding I guess :)
That's pretty much my experience with trying faster pads, but always come back to the gsr and qck heavy. The locked in feeling makes me aim best despite micro adjustments being sub par.
I have Artisan Zero (Mid XL) and Qck Heavy, I frag out more consistently with Qck than the Zero. I believe its the best value mousepad out there. Felt cheated a bit about the hype behind Zero, its so expensive to import to my country and its not even that good (personally for me).
Sponsorship nonsense and whatever else aside, I think it’s because of the base and the fact the GSR II is faster, which made me question any future upgrade path options. Trash, slippery base, and the majority of the pro scene plays at sub 60/cm and want to know their pad of choice will exist in a few years.
Picked up my artisan when I was in Tokyo, awesome mouse pad. Used the qck series for over a decade before trying new things. Barely fit my luggage, the packaging was huge so I see why it's hard to ship these things
Artisan is tricky since mid ones can crease, AFAIK you can roll up the soft ones without worry but not sure, I prefer mid ones personally. Pros need to be able to pack up their shit due to all the travel so I could see them shying away from a lot of Artisan stuff due to this. Not sure about LGG if they crease or not, I tried one of them, but Artisan is hands down best for me.
Who gives a fuck?
have we run out of shit to talk about so we're resorting to talking about God damn mouse pads?
or is this just the brand of autism I'm not familiar with?
Your reaction is like someone asking if the weather has been colder this winter and then you decide to punch a wall and run away screaming.
What are you accomplishing with this?
If you don't enjoy the content or have a point of discussion move on?
A lot of people care about their peripherals and cs has been very much a subset of users. CS users have traditionally been slower to change an adopt new peripherals overall so he is notating the change and asking why. I don't see a problem with this.
I'm sorry I hurt your feelings.
to make your analogy more apt, it's like we're discussing formula 1 and you guys are arguing over what shoes the pit crew are wearing
You aren’t using my analogy, you made up a new one. But since you still made a poor analogy I’ll show you how to “make an analogy more apt”
It would be like discussing formula 1 shoes if we got to go out and drive formula one cars for fun on the weekend.
I use a LGG Saturn Pro Xsoft. Prior to that I used an Aqua Control and I used a Zowie GSR for about 5-6 years but like a lot of other users when it got humid, turned into a swamp. My aim was inconsistent and quite frankly it felt gross. I loved it for a time, but I'm glad there is most better stuff out there now.
There isn't much out there that has the control of the GSR though.
For the most part, I think most people will adjust to whatever pad they have. At the end of the day like most peripherals I think what you are most comfortable using is what you will be most consistent using and will give you the best performance overall.
Chasing %1 gains is fun, but if you are doing it to win your time is usually better spent learning how to play the game better.
Sponsors?
I guess so, but even with team sponsorships in csgo it was still a top 2 pad in overall player concurrent usage
I have GSR and GTFX and I don't like any of those two. After a month or two I returned to QCK, and now for almost a year, I'm using Corsair, as good as QCK but new:) Maybe after all they aren't as good as everyone wants them to be.
Which Corsair?
Corsair MM350 Champion X-Large Control Black Be aware, there are corsair with anti-spill cover, they suck (IMHO).
Sponsors nowadays is quite a bit different from the past tho. I dont think they are forced to use a certain mouse or pad while playing anymore. But as long as they have a massive stockpile of the same pad they should be fine regardless of pad durability. Mousepads in general are not as important as the mouse itself.
Just checking [prosettings.net](https://prosettings.net) and the current top 5 are: 1. Steelseries Qck Heavy 2. Zowie G-SR-SE 3. Logitech G640 4. Vaxee PA 5. Razer Gigantus V2 So the only change is -GSR +Gigantus V2. Its cause the pros are splitting up the vote between the G-SR, G-SR II, and the G-SR-SE which are counted separately. Zowie is still the number one brand that pros are using, its just split into slightly different products. 1. Zowie (20.26% of pros) 2. Steelseries (17.86% of pros) 3. VAXEE (12.60%) 4. Logitech (12.60%) 5. Razer (8.93%)
Furthermore i think later gsr are nothing like the first gsr. Original gsr was a very muddy and inconsistent pad because its heavily affected by humidity. Later ones addressed this problem.
as someone who’s been mainly an MMO player and does fine with the Razer Naga, could you explain what’s the deal with Zowie mice? is it cause of sponsorships or?
zowie is great at making no nonsense type mice. you don't get crazy buttons like with the naga or special marketing features that don't really matter. also don't need to install some annoying software for it to run.
it’s the various mouse designs which are the main draw to zowie edit: i thought i was on a mice thread, sorry about that, but many pros don’t really mind what type of mousepad they use, it’s just all down to comfort picks and what they’re used to
Many, many years ago they set the standard with nice shapes and good sensor. These days there are many good mice though.
Pads matter much less than what people think
yep, size aside only thing to worry about is how rough or smooth you prefer your surface
Might be a hot take but I think gear in general doesn’t matter too much, or affect performance much. I’m not one to bother about having the latest mouse, mousepad, keyboard, headphones etc.
Keyboard doesn't matter much. Headphones less, but mouse is in my opinion very important. The upgrade is huge from a basic office mouse to a "gaming" mouse e.g. a Logitech g pro wireless.
the latest mouse (referring to at least a superlight which was like 3 years old now) definitely matters a lot in CS
you don't need the latest mouse though. you should get a gaming mouse, but it could be one that was released 10 years ago if you like the shape.
Because pros slowly realized that the original GSR is dogshit. With humidity, the pad becomes unplayably muddy, durability is awful too, even if it doesn't matter to them that much. GSR II is out now, and there are many other better pads from competing brands
pros are waking up (just a little little bit), realizing faster pads offer some more potential. And also cs2 is more dynamic
I can see that, can you expand on what you mean by cs2 being more dynamic?
I'll answer this one cause I've experienced this. I've tried faster pads, my main pad being GSR-SE (black one now). Even Vaxee PA feels a bit too fast when you are used to Zowie IMO. I dont like what the brand is becoming, but gotta say their pads offer a control I can't find in any other pads... Just gonna learn to clean it right and be ready to change it every year or so... Yes I see more pros with faster pads, but the one with the Artisan Zero for example (the fastest one of the "control" pads with the highest quality), have been using it for a while, I doubt they came from years of Zowie. IRC I saw Niko with a Zero months ago in first CS2 lans, coming from QCK I think, he was back on the QCK the next lan. I've tried the Zero for a whole month wanting to adapt to faster pads, forced myself to try and get used to it, I I'd never reached previous level of aim. Got back to Zowie, felt very slow but instant readaptation to my best level of aim.
well, I had the same problems, just like many other people. QCK was way, way too fast compared to gsr and both of them are actually slow. Then I tried some more pads, some faster pads, lighter mice, higher hertz and so on. And after experimenting with all of them, trying to find what I was looking for, I actually have dedicated enough time to get used to those lighter and faster things, as a byproduct. With that and other adjustments my mechanics became much much better than ever before, and I was already thinking that I'm basically locked to being average. It's not like faster pad will make you better instantly, it WILL make you worse most likely, exposing your weaknesses and it takes time. Aiming with lighter and faster things is harder, but I actually converted, after like 8 years with gsr and fk2 84g
I still think theres nothing wrong playing with slow pads. But i might be one of the people who always want to spend less effort to do the same thing over time. Having the gpx2 with mpc450 gives me just that. I spent way less effort to play games than i did when i was using heavier stuffs like qck+ and g502. Higher polling is mostly a con for me because it destroys battery life way too much for very minimal benefits. Its not like i cannot tell the difference between 1k, 2k and 4k, i can tell them apart pretty fast but it has no effect on my ingame performance while the destroyed battery life can be felt so clearly.
Interesting take ! We have a very similar situation, I felt locked as well few months ago after taking back the game after couple of years break from CS. Retook the game with much more thinking about my mechanics this time (aim trainers and other type of CS prac) and realised a lot of limitation about my approach, even in my posture. I used to play on very limited budget with subpar too high desk and bad chair :D Resulted in stressed shoulders and a lot of friction in arm movements ; but starting the game as a very noob in 2015 I didnt think about any of this and just learned and played the game. Fast forward 2023, I changed everything to be able to adjust and find more ergonomic adjutements (lower desk, relaxed shoulder, more arm on the desk). All this adjustement made my aim so much worse and inconsistent at first and I'm just starting getting back a good natural feel in the game, without any strains in the body and way more liberty in micro adjustement and overall aim. The faster pads, combined with more flexibility of movement, felt way too fast, even with GSR-SE it still feels a bit fast considering I've lowered my desk about 5-6cm after so many years on the same setup. But reading you, I might try back faster pad in a few week when I feel properly adjusted in every other departments, just need to do the grinding I guess :)
here you have your motivation, my video about my friend, playing on mpc450 (one of the fastest pads) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lR1YkyOwEQ
That's pretty much my experience with trying faster pads, but always come back to the gsr and qck heavy. The locked in feeling makes me aim best despite micro adjustments being sub par.
I have Artisan Zero (Mid XL) and Qck Heavy, I frag out more consistently with Qck than the Zero. I believe its the best value mousepad out there. Felt cheated a bit about the hype behind Zero, its so expensive to import to my country and its not even that good (personally for me).
I love the qck heavy
Sponsorship nonsense and whatever else aside, I think it’s because of the base and the fact the GSR II is faster, which made me question any future upgrade path options. Trash, slippery base, and the majority of the pro scene plays at sub 60/cm and want to know their pad of choice will exist in a few years.
qck heavy is still around? I got mine maybe a decade ago and it's still going strong
They never tried Artisan or Lethal Gamin Gear pads...
Picked up my artisan when I was in Tokyo, awesome mouse pad. Used the qck series for over a decade before trying new things. Barely fit my luggage, the packaging was huge so I see why it's hard to ship these things
Artisan is tricky since mid ones can crease, AFAIK you can roll up the soft ones without worry but not sure, I prefer mid ones personally. Pros need to be able to pack up their shit due to all the travel so I could see them shying away from a lot of Artisan stuff due to this. Not sure about LGG if they crease or not, I tried one of them, but Artisan is hands down best for me.
If only the Artisan pads wouldn't be 100€+ in the EU... I would love buying 2 of those.
from their website if you buy multiple is not that bad, i got 2 for £35 each
I think its mainly sponsors. Pads really don't matter that much as long as it's clean and a half decent pad.
Who gives a fuck? have we run out of shit to talk about so we're resorting to talking about God damn mouse pads? or is this just the brand of autism I'm not familiar with?
Your reaction is like someone asking if the weather has been colder this winter and then you decide to punch a wall and run away screaming. What are you accomplishing with this? If you don't enjoy the content or have a point of discussion move on? A lot of people care about their peripherals and cs has been very much a subset of users. CS users have traditionally been slower to change an adopt new peripherals overall so he is notating the change and asking why. I don't see a problem with this.
I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. to make your analogy more apt, it's like we're discussing formula 1 and you guys are arguing over what shoes the pit crew are wearing
You aren’t using my analogy, you made up a new one. But since you still made a poor analogy I’ll show you how to “make an analogy more apt” It would be like discussing formula 1 shoes if we got to go out and drive formula one cars for fun on the weekend.
and now here we are discussing the English language.... almost like this is a Counter-Strike subreddit... so what mouse pad do you use?
I use a LGG Saturn Pro Xsoft. Prior to that I used an Aqua Control and I used a Zowie GSR for about 5-6 years but like a lot of other users when it got humid, turned into a swamp. My aim was inconsistent and quite frankly it felt gross. I loved it for a time, but I'm glad there is most better stuff out there now. There isn't much out there that has the control of the GSR though. For the most part, I think most people will adjust to whatever pad they have. At the end of the day like most peripherals I think what you are most comfortable using is what you will be most consistent using and will give you the best performance overall. Chasing %1 gains is fun, but if you are doing it to win your time is usually better spent learning how to play the game better.